Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma says he wants people in women’s basketball to start talking about how to make the game more exciting and attractive to fans.

He is trying to start the conversation by suggesting the rims be lowered by at least 7 inches for the women’s game.

Auriemma likens the move to having women’s tees in golf, and lower nets in women’s volleyball.

But there was a mixed reaction to his suggestion from his colleagues. Oklahoma’s Sherri Coale said Thursday she believes a uniform rim height is one of the things that makes basketball a great sport and she would not want that changed.

Others, such as Tennessee’s Holly Warlick, say the cost of changing rim heights from elementary schools to the WNBA would be prohibitive.

Graduation rates

Washington’s marquee sports of football and men’s basketball each came in at or above the national averages when the NCAA released its annual graduation rates Thursday.

UW’s football team had a 74 in the NCAA’s Graduation Success Rate for incoming classes of 2002-05, while its men’s basketball team had a 78. The national average for football was 74 and for men’s basketball it was 70.

Washington had a GSR of 81 for all of its athletes, matching the NCAA’s overall rate.

Connecticut’s basketball program — already banned from the postseason for failing to meet other academic standards — had a rate of just 11 percent.

UW’s football team rating was second in the Pac-12 behind only Stanford’s 90 percent.

Washington State’s football team, meanwhile, had a 53 to tie for 10th in the Pac-12, while its men’s basketball team had a 78. Stanford also led in men’s basketball at 91.

WSU had an overall graduation rate of 75.

The GSR is a metric devised by the NCAA that accounts for athletes who leave school early or transfer but are in good academic standing at the time of departure.

The GSR is not to be confused with the Academic Progress Rate, or APR, for which teams can be assessed penalties if they do not meet certain standards.